8: David and Hannah Fletcher David and Hannah Fletcher immigrated to the U.S. from England sometime between 1810 and 1823. Once in the states, they had ten children: David Jr., Ann, Thomas, Sarah, John, George, William, Edward, Elizabeth, and Mary Jane. They lived in Lisbon, New York until David Sr. died in 1880 at the age of 84. | Mary Loisa Todd Mary Loisa Todd immigrated to the U.S. from Ontario, Canada, after marrying William Fletcher on October 27th, 1862. Together, they had eight children: Ida, Irva, Lucius, Anne, Clark, Mary, Reuben, and Blanch. They lived in Lebanon, Wisconsin until William died on July 11th, 1903 at the age of 66. | The Journey to the United States of America

9: Lubert and Theckla Bohlsen Lubert Bohlsen immigrated to the U.S. from Oldenburg, Germany in 1876. Theckla Koester emigrated from Cloppenburg, Germany also in 1876. They met on a boat and married that same year on October 5th. Together, they had nine children: Herman, Wilhelmina, Minnie, Rose, Theodore, Johann, George, Joseph, Regina and Dorothy. They lived in Stillwater, Minnesota; Chariton, Missouri; Laclede, Missouri; and Dawson, Montana. They also lived in Duluth, Minnesota until Lubert died on October 24th, 1914 and Theckla died on October 25th, 1916. | Carl and Sarah Swenson Carl and Sarah Swenson immigrated to the U.S. from Delarna, Sweden in 1869. Upon living in America, they had two children: Ida and David. They lived in Stanton, Iowa and Alexandria Village, Minnesota. The also lived Spokane, Washington until Carl died on July 25th, 1918 at the age of 74, and Sarah died on March 16th, 1918 at the age of 62.

10: Fletcher | & Mary Jenny Farrell | Lucius W. Fletcher

11: Lucius W. Fletcher and Mary Jenny Farrell married on June 23rd 1889. Their son, Lyman W. Fletcher, was born on July 22nd 1901. Lyman married Gertrude Lang and had two sons: Llewellyn and Prescott. | Lyman W. Fletcher | & Gertrude J. Lang

12: Gertrude & Llewellyn

14: David & Dorothy Swenson 25th of October

15: David Ferdinand Swenson David Ferdinand Swenson was born on June 26th, 1884 in Brandon, Minnesota. His parents were Carl W. Swenson and Sarah C. Lundstrom, who had emigrated from Sweden before having David. He married Dorothy Angeline Bohlsen on October 25th in Fort Benton, Montana. Together, they had six children: Cecilia, Irais, Mary Dela, David Jr., Ferdinand, and Howard. David Sr. enlisted to fight in World War 1 in 1918, and his sons, David Jr., Ferdinand, and Howard, all enlisted in World War 11 upon turning eighteen. Before the war, David Sr. and David Jr. enjoyed fishing together. However, they did not have a motor for the boat, and so David Jr. did most the rowing. After the wars, David Jr. purchased a motor for his father’s boat. Later on in his life, David Sr. and Dorothy bought a small, one bedroom house in Anaheim California where they escaped the chills of Spokane during the winter. David Ferdinand Swenson died on October 23rd, 1958 in Spokane, Washington.

20: 1. I found some records on the internet that said your father, David Swenson, registered to fight in World War 1 and World War 11. Was he drafted? If so, when was he enlisted in the service (before or during the war)? If he was in fact enlisted, what were your feelings when you discovered that? What were they while he was away? Was it hard not having him at home? My Dad, David Ferdinand Swenson, might have had to register for the draft at the time of WW1, but I believe he would have been too old to have to register for the draft in WW11. He did not have to go on active duty in WW1, because when he was very young, he contracted a bone disease in his left leg which stunted its growth. That leg was shorter than his right one and that kept him out of the service. Please send us a copy of the registration data you found. We are very curious about it. During WW11 my two brothers, David John Swenson and Howard Charles Swenson and I had to register for the draft when we reached the age of eighteen. Rather than wait to be drafted, we each chose to enlist - David joined the Army Air Force, Howard and I joined the Navy. It was very hard on my folks to have their three sons go off to war. However, we all got back home okay. 2. What are a couple of your favorite memories from your growing up/coming of age years? I have lots of good memories of my growing up years; we lived in the southwest corner of Spokane called Stafford's addition. It is in Hangman Creek valley (Also known as Latah Creek). It was like a small town on the edge of a big city. It had two grocery stores, two gas stations, and a little church, which also served as the "town hall". We kids learned to swim in the creek. In the winter we would ice skate on it. On Sunday afternoons with good weather there was always a work-up baseball game. In snowy weather we would go sledding on a hill right in front of our house. (Our house is still there at 1938 West 15th). To get "spending money'' we kids worked in the nearby truck gardens pulling weeds, thinning vegetables and cultivating for ten cents an hour. We would work ten hours and get paid a silver dollar in the evening. It was not steady work; we only worked on the days the farmers needed us. That was fine with us; we needed some time off to spend our fortunes. We six kids attended Our Lady of Lourdes Grade School right downtown by the cathedral. It was only two miles away. We walked to school very often but took the bus when the weather was bad or Dad would drive us there in the family Model T Ford. When it was time for each of us boys to go to Gonzaga High School (four miles away) Mom took us aside and showed us her calculations. She said if you were to take the bus to school every day for four years that amount of money would be about the same as the price of a new bike. So, she gave us the choice: bus or bike? Needless to say each of us, as we left grade school, took the new bike. | Mom had a lot of fun sayings. If, after we started walking to school, one of us realized we had forgotten a book or something and had to run back home to get it, Mom would say "If you haven't got it in your head you've got to have it in your feet”. Or if she and one of us solved some particularly knotty problem she would say "Two heads are better than one - even if one is a cabbage head". Those and other sayings have continued on through our kids and their kids. (Libby put together a "Family Dictionary" listing such sayings from both of our families). | 3. Were there any fun sayings or nursery rhymes that you or your parents/sibings came up with? Were there any that had been passed on from former generations? | Great Uncle Ferdinand Swenson

21: 4. Growing up, did your family have any special traditions (maybe associated with birthdays, holidays, etc.)? Yes, we had a number of family traditions. Dad was a printer for the Spokesman Review. Every summer he would take two weeks off (without pay) and take us to Newman Lake. We stayed in a cabin at the far north end of the lake at a resort that was at that time called Gillette Park, The cabins were very primitive - kerosene lamps, out house toilets, but we certainly enjoyed it - lots of swimming, fishing, riding a tour boat around the lake, etc. Our Christmases were great too. It always started with midnight Mass at Lourdes Cathedral. In the morning we woke up to the many fine presents brought to us by Santa Claus. After a huge turkey dinner, to which Mom had invited all our in-town relatives, we would open the presents they brought. The 4ft of July holiday was another exciting event. We celebrated it either at Newman Lake or Coeur d' Alene Lake. We always had lots of fireworks; there were few restrictions in those days. Coeur d' Alene would have a big patriotic parade with lots of bands and floats. 5. Did you or your family have a favorite sport or family activity you enjoyed doing together or with friends? An annual activity we looked forward to was the printers' picnic. It was held at Natatorium Park - an amusement park way out at the end of Northwest Boulevard. We would ride the roller coaster, drive the bumper cars, go on the merry-go-round (which is now downtown at Riverfront Park), and then have a great dinner with free soda pop. 6. How many siblings did you have? Were you especially close to any of them? How close were you to, my grandmother, Irais? There were six kids in my family- in descending order of ages: three older girls: Cecelia, Mary Della (Sister Loretta) and Irais and three younger boys: David, Me and Howard. Only Howard and I are still living. My sister, Irais, your grandmother, and I were pretty good buddies. For a while, during WW11, she was working in Olympia and I was in the Navy at the University of Washington in Seattle. On a few weekends I hitchhiked to Olympia and we would do some fun things like ride bikes or go to a Grange Hall Old Time dance. On other weekends she would come visit me in Seattle. She wrote to me also wherever I was in the Navy. After the war I was the best man at their wedding. We stayed in touch over the years. Howard and I have always hit it off quite well. I have only one bone of contention with him ,and that is that when I went into the Navy, I gave him my beautiful Model A Ford convertible but when he went into the Navy he sold it for $100! Now I ask you, don't you think he owes me half of that? 7. Focusing more on your growing up years, how was life different then compared to how it is now? (Technologies, lifestyles, churches, etc.) Life certainly was different then from what it is like now. We did not have television. we did have radios but even the early radios were not loud speakers. They were called "crystal sets" and needed earphones to be heard. The loud-speaking radio was a quantum leap into the future. There were no electronic calculators, computers, iPhones etc. People had telephones but they were used mostly for local calls. You could call long distance but it was very costly. Something that got lost is the way kids made a lot of their fun things such as four wheel coasters with real steering wheels (fore-runners of the soap box derby cars), bows and arrows, Irish mail (a coaster with a lever to move back and forth to propel it down the sidewalk). We even made our own ice skates. Today the fun things are already made for them such as electronic games, TV, CD players, cell phones, etc. Life styles are much different. In the olden days I remember - in the 1930,s and 1940's, most people chose a good moral code to live by. Marriage was for life - until death do us part. Today, it appears that few folks even know the Ten Commandments let alone live by them. 8. Are there any other interesting stories you have from your growing up/coming of age years? While answering your questions I am reminded of many events in my growing up years - not all of them happy - for example three of my high school classmates were killed in WW11. But another happy one is the day I came home from work in the truck gardens for lunch I noticed that Mom was pretty excited about something. She said she had some good news for me but first I have to promise that I would follow all the rules that she and Dad would require. That really puzzled me. She said a neighbor lady said that if I would repair her fence that the creek had damaged I could have their Model T Ford pickup. Wow! My first car! One of my buddies and I fixed that fence in no time - and then we had wheels! And now, memories. On December 7th 1941, a Sunday, I was sitting in my Model T with my feet on top of the windshield (it had no roof) when kids came running out of the house shouting, "the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor"! My first question was "where is Pearl Harbor and who owns it?" (Your uncle Rick has a photograph of Irais sitting in my pickup. Next time you see him remind him of his promise to send me a copy).

22: Church and Charity were very important to Grandma Irais, the Fletcher family attended Mass every Sunday and Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Grandma never liked to see people without a place to eat. She used to live by a naval yard in Seattle, and on thanksgiving, she would contact the Commander. Every year she invited the soldiers without a place to eat into her home and would feed them a nice, good ole’ home-cooked meal. | "If you haven't got it in your head, you've got to have it in your feet”.